DUNDEE suffered a damaging home defeat to the Lions, who were given a boost by top goalscorer Peter MacDonald's absence.

MARK BURCHILL believed Livingston were on to a winner before a ball was kicked at Dens – because Peter MacDonald’s absence felt like a goal of a start.

A leg injury kept Dundee top scorer MacDonald on the sidelines and he was badly missed as the league leaders crashed to a 1-0 defeat.

Burchill grabbed the winner with a well-taken header after 11 minutes, allowing Hamilton to close the gap on the Dark Blues to just a point.

And the former Dens Park ace, 33, knew his old club were there for the taking when he looked at the team sheet before the game.

Burchill said: “When we noticed that Peter was out injured for Dundee it gave us a boost right away.

“Peaso is a fantastic player and I’ve known him for years, right from when we played together as kids.

“After seeing he was missing we got off to a great start.

“We might have gone on to get another goal but we were just happy to get the three points. We came here with confidence and deserved to get our victory.”

Burchill’s early opener came when he nodded past Kyle Letheren after Martin Scott’s free-kick had been left by the dithering Dundee defence.

And the former Celtic and Portsmouth striker, who looked razor-sharp throughout, revealed the goal was a perfectly executed plan.

Burchill said: “We work a lot on the training ground.

“Because this league is so tight you have to work that little bit harder to get any advantage you can.

“That’s what happened at our goal so you could say it was rehearsed.

“Dundee are one of my old clubs so to come back here and score the winning goal is very pleasing.

“I had a great time at Dens and the fans were fantastic.”

The Dark Blues blew their chance to move further clear of nearest rivals Accies, who were held to a 0-0 draw at Falkirk.

John Brown’s men could now be knocked off top spot when Hamilton come calling on Saturday. And Dundee defender Matt Lockwood admitted there was no excuse for such a poor performance, even without their star striker.

Lockwood said: “We had Peaso out which was a big loss as he’s our top scorer.

“But it’s only one player and that doesn’t make a team.

“We should have been able to cope better without him.

“We have to improve for next week’s game with Hamilton at Dens.

“If we’re not playing to the top of our game then we won’t win that one either.”

“We lost a soft goal from a set-piece early in the game which was hard to take.

“The only positive we can take out of it is the fact we’re still top of the league.”